Everybody is welcome, this blog is highly political, it represents my views, wishes and dreams. It will contain topics about culture, politics, E.U. issues, social comments and everything else that I find the need to share and pass on, from the country I come from originally (Greece) to the country I found my home (Ireland),Europe and the world.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

EU citizenship for sale.

The question of citizenship, nationality and identity is in the news constantly these days,
from the recent tensions between Eastern and Western Ukraine to the
upcoming referendum on Scottish independence.

In this regard, one
interesting development is the decision of
Malta to start selling passports
to foreign nationals.

For the modest sum of 650,000 euros, it is now
possible to obtain EU citizenship without ever being required to live in
Malta (though applicants are required to invest in Maltese property and
buy government bonds).By flogging passports on the open market, the Maltese government
hopes to bring in an extra 30 million euros in the first year alone.
Interestingly, Malta is not the first country to grant citizenship to
non-EU citizens: Austria, Cyprus, Belgium and Portugal already hand out
passports in exchange for investment in the country. However, Malta is
the first country to put a price tag on an EU passport.(Debating Europe).

Interestingly the above "trend" has got even more serious with revelations that Bulgaria is the newest nation to sell passports to non-EU citizens. Non-Europeans can buy Bulgarian and thus European Union citizenship for as little as €180,000 under a scheme operating in
Bulgaria, an investigation by The Telegraph has disclosed.(The Telegraph).

These practices by all EU member states concerned, are outrageous. It seems that after having turned everything in commodities in Europe, the largest market on the planet, we have now just ran out of things to sell. And so we are selling what the whole world wants and is interested to avail from us, the only thing we have left to sell: our citizenship.

It is understandable that we are still facing an economic crisis and we need money to rebuild our economies, or at least keep them afloat. Europe needs investments and especially the smaller, or peripheral states are in dire need.

But there is one thing to try to compete for investments and another to put a price tag on a document that will entitle anyone to be not just citizen of that country, but the whole of Europe. Without of course having set foot on this country's soil, or being able to speak a word of its language, or knowing any basic information about its culture, history and life style.

At least some nations like Austria and Cyprus, only hand out passports to people who invest in their country and buy property. We could call this as "facilitation", in order to do business. But such practices open dangerous loopholes that could attract criminals and other dubious personalities in our continent.

Europe will at best become a place for the rich people of the globe, either their wealth is coming from lawful or not practices. If anyone with enough money to spend can get his hands on a European passport, then he can move and settle anywhere in the continent, no questions asked.

The only way to safeguard who is entering our continent, would be stricter regulations and background checks. Provided of course that the responsible authorities in each state, do their work right and exam the background of the potential "buyer" before granting him citizenship.

If this continues, we will transform Europe to a place where the rich will turn it into their playground, invest and make profit, influence local politics; but with what cost to us, the ordinary citizens? If our continent becomes a place for the elites of this world, how could we influence policies that would be beneficial for us and have our voice heard, among such powerful interests?

These are practical issues of course. The other issue with such practices is more of an ethical one. Using the lure of a EU passport in exchange for money and
investments, is a degradation to what most people identify with still in our days: nationality and citizenship. Either they are native nationals or
naturalized, people still want somewhere to belong, a root where they can branch out and which identifies them.

According to what most people believe, nationality is something that you can not just buy; you either receive it by birth, or
you acquire it by the naturalization process, after you lived for a
certain amount of time in a country. You worked, paid taxes and have
integrated yourself in the society and so you can be part of it.

Now our governments want to scrap this status, but only for the rich people. The poor immigrants will still have to queue long hours out of the immigration offices, trying to get their hands on a visa, that will allow them to work, pay taxes and contribute in the society for the long term.

How low can us Europeans get? Since there isn’t much more to sell, as
our governments are already sold to the banks and markets, they now trade with
our nationality. Though I believe in
living in a Europe of open borders and a globalized
world, my citizenship and especially my nationality is something I am
proud of and bring always with me when I talk, travel,
work or live anywhere in Europe.

The ultra-liberal voices that just do not get why people identify themselves under a nation flag, are of course delighted if not supportive of such development. For them, belonging to a nation is merely an accident of birth and it should not matter. They desire a border-less, nation-less world, where nationalism is banished.

I am afraid that is a utopia, at least for now. People do not want to forget who they are and where they are coming from. They have a deep instinct of belonging in a group, either it is ethnic, religious, social or political in their hearts. They are deeply interested in their history and past.

Even in America, a great melting pot of cultures, people still identify themselves as Jewish-American, African-American, Greek-American, Irish-American and so on. They are American citizens but they all want to hold on to this special set of values that they have inherited from family ties.

And a passport is not just a travel document, as long it describes citizenship as nationality on it. If we want to offer citizenship with a price, then we have to remove the word nationality from our passports and replace it with the word citizenship, which is a different thing.

As long as governments issue passports to their nationals, then such development undermines the value of nationality and what it means to the majority of people. It is deliberate of course and it aims to destroy any sense of nationalism and ethnic identity, turning us all into "citizens of this world".

While I do not necessarily object to this, it is the way they are trying to achieve this that I find outrageous and morally wrong. For me this is a mistaken way of achieving such thing. You can not abolish the instincts of the people, or their heritage that was in the making for thousands of years.

I believe in a Europe of nations,
unlike the ultra-liberals that want a Europe without them, people with
no identities and ethnicity. The best way to integrate European
nations, is not by destroying or erasing our national heritage and
culture, but on the contrary empowering it by constant cultural exchanges.

Share our culture with all other nations, thus eventually creating a single one in which every nation will contribute and identify with. It is culture and common
heritage that binds people together, not a common currency or a single
market, or the "nationality" that is written on your passport.

People with no history or sense of ethnicity are easier to manipulate and more prone to satisfy the lack of identity with consumerism. To close the gap that the lack of ethnic consciousness leaves, people follow trends that are promoted upon them, like fashion, music and products that are marketed towards them. The irony here is that they do so in order to belong and identify themselves with a wider, global community, by doing or having what everyone else has.

In this way we are creating a new kind of global, capitalist culture and identity and that is what the global capitalist elites are trying to do, by working on destroying nationalism and ethnic identity. First in Europe and then the world. And the fact that our governments condone with such thing for investments and money is shameful.

Translate

Petition: 2 ευρώ νόμισμα με τον Μ. Αλέξανδρο.

About Me

I am working full time in Ireland's semi-public sector. Recently I completed my Journalism studies (BA Hons) in DBS. Writing about politics and social issues, as well as historic facts is my passion. I want to change the way people think and become more active politically and socially. Do not feel very comfortable with idle people, people with no interests or opinion.

I am contributing to many other websites and on-line magazines, like the OVI Magazine, an English speaking online site from Finland. (http://www.ovimagazine.com/). Also the OneEurope website, a pro-European platform based in London, UK. They are trying to be a hub for information about organized European civil
action online and independent journalism from a European perspective. (http://one-europe.info/). I often debate in the Debating Europe website, an independent NGO about European politics ( http://www.debatingeurope.eu/). And finally, I have also cooperated with Newrop Magazine, a French/Dutch/German platform for European politics and think tank. (http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/).

Recently I started blogging for the euronews' blog, Generation Y. You may read my first article for them here.

If you are into politics, Europe, European history, culture and heritage, European social issues and economics but from a citizen's point of view you may like this blog. What I am trying to do is not impress you with my knowledge of economics. I am not an economist. Rather present you with thoughts, ideas and analyze European politics as any ordinary citizen would do.

I am trying to inspire you to become more active or even understand a bit more about some European, Irish and Greek political realities. Hope you enjoy!!